National Mining Museum Scotland Library & Archive

The reference library at the National Mining Museum Scotland houses books, journals, trade catalogues and periodicals covering the history of the coal mining industry and is the largest collection of such material relating to the coal industry in Scotland.

The Museum has a large and varied archive, which includes from the records of the Lothian Coal Company, minute books and papers of the National Union of Mineworkers, and a collection of over 30000 largely National Coal Board plans and engineering drawings.

We cater for many different kinds of researchers – school children, university students, academics, as well as family history researchers trying to discover a little more about a particular colliery where, for example, their father worked.

The Museum does not hold employment records for miners. Employment records for the National Coal Board (NCB) are currently held at:

About Us

Welcome to National Mining Museum Scotland, a 5 Star visitor attraction and winner of the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions "Best Visitor Experience" Award in 2009 and 2013.

The museum provides a great day out for all ages! We're based at one of the finest surviving examples of a Victorian colliery in Europe, the Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange, just nine miles south of Edinburgh.

Visitors to the museum will marvel at the sheer size of the place, be astounded by the engineering brilliance behind all the machinery and retrace the footsteps and struggles of the thousands of miners and their families before them.